


The Earthquake In My Heart

by orphan_account



Series: One Shots & Shorts [7]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Coda, First Kiss, Kuron, Love Confession, M/M, Project Kuron, season 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-24 06:11:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14949074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “Is he still a part of you?” Keith whispered. If he spoke any louder, his voice would break and Keith wasn’t sure he could hold back the tears then.“Who?” Shiro asked.Keith continued to stare at the unopened door of the desert shack – his home. “Kuron?”





	The Earthquake In My Heart

**Author's Note:**

> A continuation of [The Lightning in My Veins](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14940939)

There were lights in the sky reminiscent of the stars and planets he had personally walked upon and visited. The lights mingled with the blanket of stars overhead but Keith ignored the lights of Garrison, turning his back upon the school he had called home for so many years, in favor of turning his gaze up to the desert shack he had called home after Kerberos. It stood, tall and still, the darkness making the windows even darker.

“It looks undisturbed,” Shiro said quietly as he came to stand along Keith’s side.

Keith didn’t turn his eyes on Shiro, his mind instead traipsing back through time. He thought on the Garrison and their days in school together, taking classes and helping one another. The hours they spent training and the multiple times Shiro had saved Keith from trouble with Iverson. He thought on how after the Kerberos launch his feelings had run rampant – without Shiro’s guidance, he had spun wildly out of control, destroying everything within his path, until his grief landed him out of the Garrison and back onto the floor of a lonely, desert shack.

Tears filled his eyes but he managed to keep them in check.

He thought about how finding Shiro again had made him believe in _fate_ and _destiny_. Two people so intertwined, nothing could sever their bond, not even death.

“Is he still a part of you?” Keith whispered. If he spoke any louder, his voice would break and Keith wasn’t sure he could hold back the tears then.

“Who?” Shiro asked.

Keith continued to stare at the unopened door of the desert shack – his home. “Kuron?”

He didn’t know what else to call the clone that had worn Shiro’s face for what felt like years. He’d gotten to know Kuron like he’d gotten to know Shiro and a part of Keith ached to know Kuron was gone. Even if he’d been an imposter, he’d still tried to be a good man.

“I’m not sure,” Shiro admitted quietly. “I think we… _fused_ together when Allura placed my essence in his… body. I have his memories. I have– I remember…”

Keith turned to look at Shiro then, his eyes on his friend’s stark white hair, glowing in the moonlight. Shiro’s jaw trembled with the threat of his own tears and when Shiro looked at him, they glittered like jewels in Shiro’s grey eyes.

“You remember what?” Keith whispered.

“I remember everything,” Shiro replied quietly. Shiro raised his arm to run his thumb gently along Keith’s scar so tenderly it left Keith gasping and breathless for a moment. His heart stopped and he had to shut his eyes to hold back every urge to scream. “I’m so sorry, Keith.”

“Do you remember what I said to you?” Keith whispered. “To him?”

Shiro nodded. “Yes… I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“I can’t either.”

The entire flight back to Earth, Keith had not been able to stop thinking about the implications of his confession. Part of him wanted to believe he’d only said the words to help Kuron wake up and become Shiro and to stop hurting him. The larger, rational part of Keith knew he’d said the words because he meant them.

“I love you, Shiro,” he said again, his voice wavering on watery. All of his feelings, collected over the years, filled his chest, body, hands, and soul until Keith could feel them splintering into his heart and pooling all over the space between them. Every feeling he had for Shiro laid out bare for the world to see. “I love you _so_ much. You’re everything to me. You mean the world to me. The universe isn’t worth fighting for if you’re not in it… If you’re not _there_ , then what do I have left?”

Shiro took a step closer until they were almost touching, chest to chest. His hand returned to cup Keith’s face, his thumb running up and down along the scar he’d left only weeks prior. “I’ve been wanting to tell you I love you for a while now,” Shiro whispered. “Been wanting to say it back but the words have been… stuck. I couldn’t get them out.”

“It’s okay,” Keith whispered. His eyes were shimmering with tears and Keith wasn’t sure he could hold them back anymore.

“No, it’s not,” Shiro replied, his voice firm, his hand twitching along Keith’s cheek. “I love you, too, Keith Kogane. You are my everything.”

Hearing the words in return felt like all of the shards of his feelings stabbing him right in the chest. Keith almost felt his knees buckle but he reached out to hold onto Shiro’s arm to keep himself steady in the guise of just wanting to be closer. Two tears trickled down his face and he leaned forward until his forehead pressed into Shiro’s chest. A deep breath steadied the urge to sob and with it came the familiar scent of Shiro – that smell of leather, sweat, and something deeper. He could never place it and wasn’t sure if maybe his Galra senses picked something up off of Shiro that no one else could.

“Please,” Keith begged, his voice breaking to match his splintered feelings. “ _Please_ , don’t leave me again.”

Shiro’s arm wrapped around Keith’s waist to yank him in close so tight, his breath left his lungs and more tears fell along his cheeks, soaking Shiro’s shirt.

“Never,” Shiro whispered fiercely. “I love you and I’m not leaving you. I’m sorry about the things that… that clone said…. In the end, I'm so sorry.”

“I knew it wasn’t you,” Keith replied, his cheek resting along Shiro’s chest. The comforting beat of his heart left Keith feeling warm. “I think I needed that time to grow… That time I spent with Krolia and Yorak, I think I needed that time to just…”

“Change,” Shiro said quietly. “No, not change… Grow is the right term, you were right. You grew into a man.”

Keith smiled softly and slowly took a step back so he could look up into Shiro’s face. He could see tear marks tracking down Shiro’s cheeks and Keith knew they both must look a mess. If anyone saw them together…

He didn’t care.

He didn’t care who saw them.

He only cared about Shiro.

Shiro leaned down into Keith’s space and Keith felt his heart fly into his throat. His fingers reached up to cup Shiro’s face, pulling him closer until their lips touched in the lightest of kisses. The kiss felt like thin glass. Any wrong movement and everything would shatter, leaving them both in broken shambles.

When nothing bad happened, no fire reigned down over their heads, Lance didn’t rudely interrupt them, and there were no sirens or bombs going off, Keith finally pulled Shiro in closer, deepening the kiss. His heart continued to beat so fast Keith wasn’t even sure he was breathing anymore. His fingers slid through Shiro’s hair, feeling every bit of softness from the forelock and prickles from the undercut. He trailed his fingers down Shiro’s skull to the back of his neck until they clawed against his shirt, desperately pulling, all the while still kissing.

They only pulled apart to take a breath, staring at one another completely breathless and stunned. Shiro’s pupils were dilated so large, Keith could no longer see the grey flecking within his iris. They were both panting like they’d run some type of marathon, and Keith’s hands were shaking along Shiro’s shoulders. 

“Keith,” Shiro whispered.

“What?”

“I’m glad it’s you with me here,” Shiro said. “I’m glad it’s us.”

Keith smiled softly and pressed his forehead to Shiro’s chest. “Me, too, Shiro,” Keith whispered, his arms wrapping around Shiro’s neck comfortable. “Me, too.”


End file.
